The banking gangsters have been at it a long time. It might well be
said that mankind will finally be free when the last bankster is hanged
in the entrails of the last politician.

The banks got themselves into trouble in 2006 and 2007, through a long
series of bad choices dating back well into the early part of the 20th
Century. These choices follow national government policy, policies
establishing the Federal Reserve System in 1913, policies confiscating
and seizing gold coins, policies beneficially regulating the banking
industry to reduce competition and make it more of a cartel, policies to
use federal loan guarantees for home loans, student loans, and other
federal policies to change lending practices. In the late 1990s,
failures like Long Term Capital Management made it clear that it is also
Federal Reserve policy to back the largest and most speculative of the
financial institutions.

The 2008 bailouts by Bush, doubled down on in early 2009 by Obama,
didn't revitalize the economy. The economy is presently not vital, at
all, with 46 million Americans on food stamps and over 22% of the
country out of work (though many are no longer qualified as "unemployed"
by the linguistic fail of the department of labour statistics).
(Footnote 1) Instead, the bailouts took away the incentives for the
banking gangsters to clean up their act. Everyone knows it, but the
banksters pretend it isn't happening. (Footnote 2)

It is happening, though, and the Dallas Federal Reserve has bothered to
notice, four years later, that there are problems. One of the key
problems is a set of policies called "too big to fail" or TBTF, which
represent the basic guideline that Bank of America, Citibank, Wells
Fargo, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and other very large banks can do
anything, however foolhardy, however reckless, however illegal, and will
be bailed out, always. They can lie, cheat, steal, with impunity, and
will always be bailed out. They can foreclose on homes to which they do
not have good title, and will always be bailed out. They can lend money
to student borrowers who become unable to pay back those loans, and they
will always be bailed out. In 2005, the lending laws were changed so
that students can no longer file personal bankruptcy to end their
indebtednessdebt peonage has returned.

On page 8 of their report (Footnote 3) the Dallas Fed presents some
impressive facts. The top of the five banks in the United States in
1970 owned 17% of all financial industry assets. The next largest 95
banks owned 37% of the assets. The 12,500 smaller banks owned 46% of
the assets, nearly half of all banking-related assets.

Due to the deliberate policies of the fat cats who run Congress, these
ratios have changed. Again, from the same page, the figures are, for
2010, the top 5 banks own 52% of all financial industry assets thanks to
their extremely protected positions handed to them by the Congress. The
next 95 banks own 32% of the assets, a proportion very similar to the
situation in 1970. The big news is that since 1970, the 12,500 smaller
banks have closed down and been bought up, so that there are today only
5,700 other banks. And these smaller banks own only about 18% of the
financial industry assets. By eating the small banks, the five largest
banks have taken over their share of the industry, along with some of
the share of the medium-sized banks. Congress let them do it.

Why? Because the men and women in Congress are themselves very wealthy.
The least paid Congress critter in office gets $154,000 a year,
compared to the average American who receives $48,147 a year (2011
figure, see wikipedia for per capita GDP data). The average American
has a negative net worth, being in debt for a mortgage, student loans,
credit cards, a car loan, and other personal loans in excess of their
assets. The average member of Congress is worth $2 millionaccording
to figures from 2010. You can easily look up these facts and figures.

So it is little wonder that 46 million Americans are on food stamps,
that the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street protesters object to the
bankster scum and their too big to fail policies. Congress loves the
banking cartel and hates everyone else. The banksters hire lobbyists to
treat Congress critters like royalty, wine and dine them, and get
whatever they want. Congress actively fears the American people, who
have a long history of rebellion and revolution, of tarring and
feathering scum, and of gutting and butchering vermin. They are right
to fear.

Jim Davidson is an anti-war and pro-freedom activist. Recently, a 501c3
group with which he is affiliated was given a building in Kansas City.
Jim continues to respond to requests for help with the Sovereign Mutual
Aid Response Team, the university association of Individual Sovereign
University. He can be contacted at IndSovU.com
and Indomitus.net. His
books Being Sovereign (2009) and Being Libertarian (2011) are available
from major book retailers:

Individual Sovereign UniversityAt IndSovU.com go to the "store" menu item in the top horizontal menu. Find
"services." Read the first two pages. When you get to the third page, you
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